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USC Book Club: The Monastery of the Heart

The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life

By Joan Chittister

Review: In her new book, The Monastery of the Heart, Erie Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister not only adapts the almost 1,500-year-old Rule of St. Benedict and the lessons she herself has learned in her own monastery to life in the 21st century, along with her community she is attempting to launch a whole new monastically inspired movement for today’s seekers.

The “monasteries without walls” that this book aims to inspire (and which the Erie Benedictine Sisters have since initiated and are accompanying at monasteriesoftheheart.org) are “not designed to take people out of the arena of normal human relationships,” writes Chittister, “but to leaven them with a Benedictine view of life.” Regardless of whether the reader wants to join this intriguing “new movement for a new world,” Chittister’s book is a powerful invitation to reflect on, reorient, and live our lives in a more meaningful way. —Meinrad Scherer-Emunds, Executive Editor, U.S. CATHOLIC

BlueBridge says:Joan Chittister’s powerful spiritual guide is anchored in the ancient Rule of Benedict, but attempts to redefine it for seekers today and invites us to become within ourselves monastics of the heart.